I am an evil giraffe. Who no longer blogs about politics.

For those of you who don’t know: Ashley Madison is a for-profit website that was explicitly set up to help people commit adultery. It got hacked. Hoo, boy, but it got hacked. The hackers, remarkably, then demanded that Ashley Madison shut itself down – or else the hackers would release the information into the wild. Apparently Ashley Madison did not comply.

Sen. Robert Menendez wooed a married newspaper publisher, taking the attractive brunette on a romantic getaway to the Caribbean, a tipster alleges.

The New Jersey Dem and Cecilia Reynolds jetted to Puerto Rico, where they stayed at the isolated beach retreat of the island’s then-governor, Anibal Acevedo Vila.

In a photo provided by the anonymous informant, Reynolds is sitting naked on a beach and suggestively smiling at the camera. In another set of pictures, they take turns posing against the same sunset backdrop.

Wrinkles to the story? Well, let’s see: the governor was undergoing corruption allegations, and the Senator was trying to squash the appointment of a US Attorney who was going after said governor. And the publisher, of course, has a cozy professional patronage relationship with Menendez, and… come, I will conceal nothing from you. I almost feel sorry for Menendez at this point. He must sit in his office and think, God. None of the other Senators get hassled when they go to tropical islands and schtupp* everything that moves. Why the hell don’t I get to do this in piece and quiet? …You do have to admit; it beggars belief that Bob Menendez is the only serial adulterer in the Senate right now. (more…)

The former CBS News producer jailed for trying to blackmail David Letterman is up for an Emmy award.

Robert “Joe” Halderman was nominated Thursday for a News and Documentary Emmy award for his participation in an April 2009 “48 Hours” story about an American exchange student charged with murder in Italy. He was one of four producers cited for the story.

Halderman began a six-month jail sentence in May for trying to extort money from Letterman in exchange for not revealing the late-night host’s office affairs.

Via Ed Driscoll, who is not precisely filled with the milk of human kindness when it comes to the journalism industry. Not that I’m saying that he’s wrong, given that a lot of journalists pretty much hate New Media for a variety of reasons, and the ones who do hate us are rarely shy about making that hatred known.

Moe Lane

PS: Oddly, this is one of those businesses where getting an industry award nomination is sometimes a response to having been thrown in jail, rather than being largely irrelevant to it.

See also The Volokh Conspiracy. I should also point out that a competent Washington press corps might have deigned to notice the fact that Baucus treats ‘sleep with me’ as a job requirement earlier than just after his re-election. Oh, yes: there’s a history.

And the No. 1 reason David Letterman is a cad: The “Late Show” host brought the assistant he was sleeping with on Caribbean vacations with his wife and their young son, sources told The Post.

Letterman’s wife, Regina Lasko, had no clue the comic was having an affair with his pretty, much younger assistant Stephanie Birkitt — a $200,000-a-year employee — when she was tagging along on the cozy, romantic trips, sources said.

Except… wait. The extortion attempt was apparently being scheduled around Cronkite’s memorial service. Now there’s some symbolism for you.

Birkitt’s diary revealed that she and Letterman enjoyed romantic hikes last fall at his sprawling ranch in eastern Montana — where he was married in March — while her boyfriend Robert “Joe” Halderman stayed home in Connecticut, sources told The NY Post. While she tried to keep it a secret, Halderman eventually found Birkitt’s diary in December and learned she was still carrying on a steamy affair with Letterman.

And now you know the reason why the hypocrite felt it bright to apologize again to former Governor Palin. Because actual, honest-to-God adultery… yeah, that changes the narrative a little.

You know, Jeff, I understand that you had some… issues… with the Governor of Alaska. That’s fine; nobody’s perfect, of course. But for the items that you packed into your negative assessment of her moral character, I can’t help but notice something: not once were you even able to imply that she was out shtupping the kid of one of her professional colleagues.